Impact of Using an Inerter on the Performance of Vehicle Active Suspension

Alshabatat, Nabeel; Shaqarin, Tamir · 2022 · Crossref

DOI: 10.12913/22998624/150566

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study investigates the impact of incorporating an inerter into vehicle active suspension systems, specifically focusing on ride comfort and actuator performance. The research is motivated by the growing use of inerters in passive and semi-active suspensions and the need to address conflicting suspension objectives—such as ride comfort versus road holding—through active control. The authors aim to determine whether adding an inerter to an active system can enhance performance while reducing the required control effort. The methodology employs a nonlinear quarter-car model with two degrees of freedom, representing the bounce of the sprung mass (vehicle body) and unsprung mass (wheel). A key feature of the model is the inclusion of a cubic-nonlinear primary suspension spring, which accounts for nonlinearities significant in off-road driving conditions. The inerter is installed in parallel with the primary spring and damper. To manage the nonlinear dynamics, the authors first apply feedback linearization to transform the mathematical model into a linear form. Subsequently, a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is adopted to design the active control law. The control strategy is oriented toward maximizing ride comfort while adhering to structural constraints, such as limits on suspension stroke and tire dynamic load. Numerical simulations are conducted to evaluate the system’s performance under various inertance values, comparing passive systems with different inerter configurations against the proposed active inerter-based system. The results demonstrate that employing an inerter significantly improves suspension performance. In passive systems, the addition of an inerter enhances ride comfort by more than 32%. When integrated into the active suspension system, the inerter further improves ride comfort and substantially reduces the actuator force required for control, achieving a reduction of approximately 25%. This indicates that the inerter effectively shares the load with the active actuator, lowering energy consumption and mechanical stress. However, the study also highlights a critical caveat: the selection of inertance values must be carefully optimized. The authors find that an uncaring or inappropriate selection of the inerter parameters can dramatically degrade the overall performance of the suspension system, potentially worsening ride quality or violating structural constraints. The significance of this work lies in its validation of inerter-based active suspensions as a viable method for improving vehicle dynamics. By demonstrating that inerters can reduce actuator force requirements while enhancing comfort, the study supports the integration of inerters into next-generation active suspension designs. The findings provide practical guidelines for engineers, emphasizing that while inerters offer substantial benefits, their parameters must be tuned in conjunction with the control strategy to avoid performance penalties. This contributes to the broader field of vehicle vibration control by offering a specific, evidence-based approach to combining mechanical elements like inerters with advanced control techniques such as feedback linearization and LQR.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• physical impairment